Do Customers Prioritise Sustainable Packaging?
Aylesbury Box Company is on a sustainability journey. We produce sustainable packaging and we care about our people, and our planet, so we continuously implemented measures in line with our company vision.
Our vision is to be an industry-leading cardboard packaging company; achieved via being innovative and helpful. Our activities should have a positive effect on the environment, the community, our clients & business partners and our employees.
After years of reducing our waste, energy and water and ensuring supply chain sustainability, we became an FSC© certified packaging company in 2021. Now, we’re exploring Sedex membership to support the continuous improvement of environmental, social and governance (ESG). We’re also busy collating evidence, as we aspire to become a B Corp in 2024.
This journey is in part due to our legal obligation to actively help customers reduce the volume of packaging they use and promote environmental solutions. However, they are primarily driven by our desire to be a great company to work for and to do business with. We are delighted that our actions have improved efficiencies, cut costs and greatly reduced our carbon footprint. These outcomes fuel our motivation to do more.
Does Sustainable Packaging Matter to our Customers?
In recent years, many potential customers enquire about our environmental credentials. Firstly, it ties into their ethos. Secondly, because supply chain sustainability is important to their customers. We were curious to find out more about our customers’ views on sustainable packaging. As a result, we circulated a customer survey.
Of those that responded, the average rating for the importance of environmental sustainability was 8.1/10. In addition, the environmental credentials of Aylesbury Box Company’s packaging solutions were rated 4.4/5.0. Only 4 respondents ticked that environmental sustainability wasn’t important to them. For social sustainability, the ratings were 7.6 for importance and 4.2 for our credentials.
The survey revealed that:
– 60% of customers believe we should do more to promote environmental sustainability
– 39% of customers feel we should implement stricter social requirements on our suppliers
– 69% of customers would consider paying more, or would be willing to pay more, for packaging supplies which evidence high social and environmental responsibility.
These results show us that our mission to be sustainable as possible is important to the majority of our customers. Even those with other priorities see the value in sustainability:
“Unfortunately, Price & Quality are the main factors in purchase…but anything that can be done to make things environmentally & socially sustainable are a bonus.”
What we do need to do is build greater awareness of our credentials.
“Just keep pushing the sustainability”
Customer Suggestions & Our Responses
Below are a couple of the points raised in the customer feedback and our response to them.
1. Documenting sustainability
“Produce sustainability documentation so we can pass it on to our customers”
“Create a quarterly newsletter with stats”
Our Environmental & Social Sustainability Policy is published on our website, so please share the link with interested customers: https://abcbox.co.uk/environmental-social-sustainability-policy/ and we will consider a quarterly newsletter as a means of sharing updates and data.
2. Printing Information onto Boxes
“Include the ‘recycled’ and ‘can be recycled’ logos on your boxes.”
“Label cardboard as X% recycled – I would opt for that to show my customers my business is green”
This is not something that we currently offer as standard, it is usually added as part of a customer’s print requirements. However, it is a point for discussion.
3. Promote Sustainable Packaging Credentials in Marketing
“Bring sustainability to the forefront in how you promote yourselves, especially in supply chains with ESG rates becoming more and more relevant.”
“Bring out the credentials/certification better on web site, specifically on the top of the home page to give an instant message, rather than visitors scrolling to bottom or clicking links.”
We are in the process of designing a new company website and will take this feedback to the planning meeting.
4. Provide Circular Economy Options
“Help us get our waste card back into the supply chain. We generate a lot of card waste, and it would be interesting to hear if you had thought about this.”
“Arrange recollection of used boxes to recycle.”
Our off-cuts, damaged boxes and other cardboard waste are collected and recycled by Pearce Recycling, so you might wish to contact them to discuss waste management services. We do not offer a used box collection and resale service. However, we are aware of Sadlers in Birmingham and Reuseabox in Newark who do. Therefore, we suggest contacting them to find out more.
5. Help Customers Reduce Packaging Volumes
“Research more into packaging reduction and reuse solutions for your customers. It is not enough to say that because corrugated paper is recyclable then it is sustainable, because we are not going to be able to recycle our way out of climate change.”
We fully agree. We have a legal obligation to advise customers on solutions that reduce the volume of packaging they use and we take that seriously. So, to meet this, we design best-fit packaging for customers to reduce the size of each box and negate the need for void fillers. In addition, we recommend switching from double-walled to single-walled corrugated boxes when protection will not be compromised.
Further ideas for reducing packaging and switching to sustainable alternatives are discussed with customers and shared in website articles. Below are three recent examples:
https://abcbox.co.uk/packaging-reuse/
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